Dropout detection circuit and optical disc apparatus

ABSTRACT

The dropout detection circuit of the invention includes: a high-speed envelope detection circuit for detecting an envelope of a reflection signal of a light beam with a first time constant; a low-speed envelope detection circuit for detecting an envelope of the reflection signal with a second time constant larger than the first time constant; a differential circuit for generating a difference signal indicating the difference between the envelopes detected by the envelope detection circuits; and a comparator for converting the difference signal to a binary value according to a predetermined binary criterion. The high-speed envelope detection circuit makes the first time constant larger during recording than during reproduction, to enable stable dropout detection irrespective of during reproduction or during recording.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a dropout detection circuit and anoptical disc apparatus incorporating the dropout detection circuit.

An optical disc apparatus reproduces a signal recorded on an opticaldisc by converging a light beam emitted from a light source such as asemiconductor laser on the optical disc rotating at a predeterminedrotational speed to irradiate the optical disc. Such an optical discapparatus is provided with a dropout detection circuit to deal with anevent of failure of good signal reproduction due to generation of ablemish and the like on an optical disc, that is, an event of occurrenceof a dropout. Various methods have been proposed for dropout detection.Basically, however, the dropout detection includes detecting a change inthe envelope of a reproduced RF signal.

<Dropout Detection>

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a conventional dropout detection circuit,and FIGS. 11A to 11C are illustrations of the operation of theconventional dropout detection circuit.

A RF signal S100 reproduced from an optical disc is first input into anAGC circuit 145, which is provided generally for stabilizing theamplitude level of the input signal against possible overall and localinconsistencies in the reflection from the disc surface. Without the AGCcircuit 145, an inconsistency in the reflection from an optical discwill be detected as an envelope change. Therefore, by inputting the RFsignal S100 into the AGC circuit 145, a signal S101 output from the AGCcircuit 145 has a waveform stabilized in amplitude level as shown inFIG. 11A.

There are provided two envelope detection circuits having different timeconstants, high-speed envelope detection circuit 147 having a smallertime constant and a low-speed envelope detection circuit 146 having atime constant larger than that of the high-speed envelope detectioncircuit 147. For example, when the RF signal S100 of which the envelopesharply changes due to a dropout is input into the envelope detectioncircuits as shown in FIG. 11A, the high-speed envelope detection circuit147 having a small time constant outputs a signal S102 having a waveformfollowing the sharp change in the envelope of the RF signal S100 asshown in FIG. 11B. On the contrary, the low-speed envelope detectioncircuit 146 having a large time constant, which fails to follow thesharp change in the envelope of the RF signal S100, outputs a signalhaving a waveform changing with a fixed time constant.

The signal output from the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146having a large time constant is input into a level shift circuit 148,where the signal is changed to a signal S103 provided with a desiredvoltage difference as shown in FIG. 11B. The signal S103 and the signalS102 output from the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147 having asmall time constant are input into a comparator 149. The comparator 149compares the input signals S102 and S103 with each other, to detect thesharp fall in the envelope of the RF signal S100, that is, the dropout.After comparison, the comparator 149 outputs a dropout detection signalS104 as shown in FIG. 11C.

The dropout detection signal S104 output from the comparator 149 isinput into a phase compensation circuit for focusing control and a phasecompensation circuit for tracking control. These phase compensationcircuits normally perform phase compensation of a signal from an A/Dconverter at a preceding stage and transmit phase-compensated signals toa next stage as control error signals. When the dropout detection signalS104 is in the “H” level, the phase compensation circuits continueholding the control error signals obtained before the change of thelevel of the dropout detection signal S104 from “L” to “H”. In this way,a false control error signal generated during a dropout is preventedfrom being transmitted to the next stage, and thus deviation in focusingcontrol and tracking control due to a false control error signal isprevented.

As described above, dropout detection is performed by detecting a changein the envelope of the reproduced RF signal. This indicates that atleast information must be pre-recorded on a medium from whichreproduction is made. For example, information is previously recorded onreproduction-only media such as CD, CD-ROM and DVD-ROM in the form ofpits. Therefore, detection of a dropout is possible during reproduction.On the contrary, recording media such as CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW andDVD-RAM include no information in the initial state, and thereforedetection of a dropout during recording is not possible. To overcomethis problem, in the case of DVD-RAM, recording is temporarily stoppedif the recording starts to go off track, and measures such as storingdata in another management region are taken. This is however notapplicable to media requiring continuous recording such as DVD-R.

With recent commercialization of various types of recording/reproductionapparatuses, requests for dropout detection not only during reproductionbut also during recording have increased. However, in the current levelof dropout detection, continuous dropout detection at the switching ofthe state from reproduction to recording or from recording toreproduction is not possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is providing a dropout detectioncircuit capable of detecting a dropout invariably stably irrespective ofduring reproduction or during recording.

The dropout detection circuit of the present invention includes: firstenvelope detection means for detecting an envelope of a reflectionsignal of a light beam converged on an optical disc for irradiation ofthe optical disc with a first time constant; second envelope detectionmeans for detecting an envelope of the reflection signal with a secondtime constant larger than the first time constant; differential meansfor generating a difference signal indicating a difference between theenvelope detected by the first envelope detection means and the envelopedetected by the second envelope detection means; and comparator meansfor converting the difference signal generated by the differential meansto a binary value according to a predetermined binary criterion, whereinthe first envelope detection means sets the first time constant to belarger during recording than during reproduction.

According to the invention described above, the first time constant islarger during recording than during reproduction. This preventsdetection of a false dropout and enables stable dropout detectionirrespective of during reproduction or during recording.

In the dropout detection circuit of the invention described above, thefirst envelope detection means and the second envelope detection meanspreferably set the first time constant and the second time constant tobe identical to each other at the time of switching from reproduction torecording or from recording to reproduction.

In the dropout detection circuit of the invention described above, thefirst envelope detection means and the second envelope detection meanspreferably set the first time constant and the second time constant tobe identical to each other for a predetermined time period from the timeof switching.

In the dropout detection circuit of the invention described above, thedropout detection circuit preferably further includes variable gainmeans for changing the amplitude of the reflection signal of the lightbeam converged on the optical disc for irradiation of the optical discto a predetermined amplitude at a predetermined gain, wherein each ofthe first and second envelope detection means detects an envelope of thereflection signal changed by the variable gain means.

In the dropout detection circuit of the invention described above,preferably, the first envelope detection means and the second envelopedetection means set the first time constant and the second time constantto be identical to each other at the time of switching from reproductionto recording or from recording to reproduction, and the variable gainmeans uses different values of the predetermined gain between duringrecording and during reproduction.

In the dropout detection circuit of the invention described above,preferably, the first envelope detection means and the second envelopedetection means set the first time constant and the second time constantto be identical to each other at the time of switching from reproductionto recording or from recording to reproduction, and the comparator meansuses different values of the binary criterion between during recordingand during reproduction.

In the dropout detection circuit of the invention described above,preferably, the first envelope detection means and the second envelopedetection means set the first time constant and the second time constantidentical to each other at the time of switching from reproduction torecording or from recording to reproduction, the variable gain meansuses different values of the predetermined gain between during recordingand during reproduction, and the comparator means uses different valuesof the binary criterion between during recording and duringreproduction.

Alternatively, the dropout detection circuit of the present inventionincludes: variable gain means for changing the amplitude of a reflectionsignal of a light beam converged on an optical disc for irradiation ofthe optical disc to a predetermined amplitude at a predetermined gaindifferent between during reproduction and during recording; firstenvelope detection means for detecting an envelope of the reflectionsignal having the predetermined amplitude with a first time constant;second envelope detection means for detecting an envelope of thereflection signal having the predetermined amplitude with a second timeconstant larger than the first time constant; differential means forgenerating a difference signal indicating a difference between theenvelope output from the first envelope detection means and the envelopeoutput from the second envelope detection means; and comparator meansfor converting the difference signal generated by the differential meansto a binary value according to a predetermined binary criterion, whereinthe first and second envelope detection means initialize the detectedenvelope values at the time of switching from reproduction to recordingor from recording to reproduction.

According to the invention described above, even when the envelopesduring recording and during reproduction fail to be completely in thesame level due to variation in setting of the variable gain means andthe like, detection of a false dropout is prevented and stable dropoutdetection is ensured because the envelope values are initialized at thetime of switching from reproduction to recording or from recording toreproduction.

In the dropout detection circuit of the invention described above, theinitialization by the first and second envelope detection means ispreferably started simultaneously.

In the dropout detection circuit of the invention described above, thetime required for the initialization by the second envelope detectionmeans is preferably shorter than the time required for theinitialization by the first envelope detection means.

Alternatively, the dropout detection circuit of the present inventionincludes: a low-pass filter for changing a frequency bandwidth of areflection signal of a light beam converged on an optical disc forirradiation of the optical disc with a predetermined blocking frequencydifferent between during reproduction and during recording; variablegain means for changing the amplitude of the reflection signal havingthe frequency bandwidth determined by the low-pass filter to apredetermined amplitude at a predetermined gain different between duringreproduction and during recording; first pulse generation means forgenerating a first pulse signal for a first time period at the time ofswitching from reproduction to recording or from recording toreproduction; second pulse generation means for generating a secondpulse signal for a second time period at the time of switching; firstenvelope detection means for detecting an envelope of the reflectionsignal having the predetermined amplitude with a first time constant;second envelope detection means for detecting an envelope of thereflection signal having the predetermined amplitude with a second timeconstant larger than the first time constant; differential means forgenerating a difference signal indicating a difference between theenvelope output from the first envelope detection means and the envelopeoutput from the second envelope detection means; comparator means forconverting the difference signal generated by the differential means toa binary value according to a predetermined binary criterion; and a gatecircuit for blocking an output from the comparator means, wherein thefirst and second envelope detection means forcefully discharge therespectively detected envelope values for the first time period inresponse to the first pulse signal, and the gate circuit blocks theoutput from the comparator means for the second time period in responseto the second pulse signal.

According to the invention described above, detection of a false dropoutat the time of switching from recording to reproduction or fromreproduction to recording is prevented and stable dropout detection isensured, without influence of a modulation signal during recording.

In the dropout detection circuit of the invention described above, thesecond time period is preferably longer than the first time period.

The optical disc apparatus of the present invention includes any of thedropout detection circuits described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an optical disc apparatus of Embodiment 1of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a dropout detection circuit shown in FIG.1.

FIGS. 3A to 3I are illustrations of the operation of the dropoutdetection circuit of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a dropout detection circuit of an opticaldisc apparatus of Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIGS. 5A to 5G are illustrations of the operation of the dropoutdetection circuit of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a dropout detection circuit of an opticaldisc apparatus of Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A to 7I are illustrations of the operation of the dropoutdetection circuit of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a dropout detection circuit of an opticaldisc apparatus of Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

FIGS. 9A to 9J are illustrations of the operation of the dropoutdetection circuit of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a conventional dropout detection circuit.

FIGS. 11A to 11C are illustrations of the operation of the dropoutdetection circuit of FIG. 10.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that commoncomponents throughout the drawings are denoted by the same referencenumerals, and the description thereof is not repeated.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary configuration of an optical discapparatus of Embodiment 1 of the invention.

An optical disc 100 is mounted on a rotational axis 102 of a motor 101and is rotated at a predetermined rotational speed. The optical disc 100has spiral tracks formed by concave and convex portions when it is adisc for recording, and has information recorded in the form of pitswhen it is a reproduction-only disc. A transport station 115 holds alaser 109, a coupling lens 108, a polarizing beam splitter 110, aquarter-wave plate 107, a total reflection mirror 105, a photodetector113 and an actuator 104, and is movable in the directions of the radiumof the optical disc 100 with a transport motor 114.

A laser power control (LPC) circuit 139 operates under instruction froma central processing circuit (CPU) 140, to allow the laser 109 to emitlight having a predetermined power. A light beam 106 emitted by thelaser 109 mounted on the transport station 115 is collimated by thecoupling lens 108. The collimated light passes through the polarizingbeam splitter 110 and the quarter-wave plate 107, is reflected by thetotal reflection mirror 105, and is converged on the information surfaceof the optical disc 100 by a converging lens 103 to irradiate theconverged spot.

Light reflected from the information surface of the optical disc 100passes through the converging lens 103, is reflected by the totalreflection mirror 105 and passes through the quarter-wave plate 107, thepolarizing beam splitter 110, a detection lens 111 and a cylindricallens 112, to be incident on the photodetector 113 composed of four lightreceiving parts. The converging lens 103 is attached to the movable partof the actuator 104. The actuator 104 includes a coil for focusing, acoil for tracking, a permanent magnet for focusing and a permanentmagnet for tracking.

By application of a voltage to the coil for focusing (not shown) of theactuator 104 via a power amplifier 130, a current flows through the coilfor focusing. With a magnetic force from the permanent magnet forfocusing (not shown) on the coil for focusing, the converging lens 103is allowed to move in the directions vertical to the plane of theoptical disc 100 (upward/downward directions as is viewed from FIG. 1).The converging lens 103 is controlled so that the focal point of thelight beam 106 is invariably positioned on the information surface ofthe optical disc 100 according to a focusing error signal 10S indicatinga deviation of the focal point of the light beam from the informationsurface of the optical disc. Likewise, by application of a voltage tothe coil for tracking (not shown) via a power amplifier 134, a currentflows through the coil for tracking (not shown). With a magnetic forcefrom the permanent magnet for tracking (not shown) on the coil fortracking, the converging lens 103 is allowed to move in the directionsof the radius of the optical disc 100, that is, in the directionscrossing the tracks of the optical disc 100 (rightward/leftward as isviewed from FIG. 1).

The photodetector 113 is composed of four light receiving parts. Thereflected light from the optical disc 100 is incident on the four partsof the photodetector 113 and converted to currents by the respectiveparts. The resultant currents are sent to I/V converters 116, 117, 118and 119, which convert the input currents to voltages corresponding tothe levels of the currents.

Adders 120, 121, 123, 124 and 126 add input signals together and outputthe results, and subtracters 122 and 125 (also called “differentialcircuits”) subtract one input signal from another and output theresults.

<Focusing Control>

The output of the subtracter 122 is the focusing error signal 10Sindicating a deviation of the focal point of the light beam irradiatingthe optical disc 100 from the information surface of the optical disc100. The focusing error signal 10S is sent to an analog/digital (A/D)converter 127, a phase compensation circuit 128, a digital/analog (D/A)converter 129 and the power amplifier 130. By means of the poweramplifier 130, a current flows through the coil for focusing of theactuator 104.

The A/D converter 127 converts the analog signal to a digital signal.The D/A converter 129 converts the digital signal to an analog signal.

The phase compensation circuit 128, which is a digital filter, performsphase compensation for the focusing control system to stabilize thecontrol loop. The phase compensation circuit 128 can hold a controlerror signal generated based on the focusing error signal 10S inresponse to an external dropout detection signal 11S. In this way, theconverging lens 103 is driven according to the focusing error signal10S, and thus the focal point of the light beam is invariably positionedon the information surface.

<Tracking Control>

The output of the subtracter 125 is a tracking error signal 12Sindicating a deviation of the spot of the light beam irradiating theoptical disc 100 from a track of the optical disc 100. The trackingerror signal 12S is sent to an A/D converter 131, a phase compensationcircuit 132, a D/A converter 133 and the power amplifier 134. By meansof the power amplifier 134, a current flows through the coil fortracking of the actuator 104.

The phase compensation circuit 132, which is a digital filter, performsphase compensation for the tracking control system to stabilize thecontrol loop. The phase compensation circuit 132 can hold a controlerror signal generated based on the tracking error signal 12S inresponse to the external dropout detection signal 11S. In this way, theconverging lens 103 is driven according to the tracking error signal12S, and thus the focal point of the light beam invariably traces atrack of the optical disc 100.

The tracking error signal 12S is also sent to a power amplifier 138 viaa low-pass filter (LPF) 135, a D/A converter 136 and an adder 137. Thisenables the transport motor 114 to be controlled according to alow-frequency component of the tracking error signal 12S. In otherwords, in the tracking control system, the actuator 104 is used fortracing in response to a high-frequency component of the signal and thetransport motor 114 is used for tracing in response to a low-frequencycomponent of the signal. The adder 137 also receives a control signal13S from the CPU 140, for moving the transport station 115 in thedirections of the radius of the optical disc 100 under an instructionfrom the CPU 140.

The adder 126 adds the outputs of the adders 123 and 124 together. Thatis, the output of the adder 126 indicates the total light amountreceived by the photodetector 113, which is hereinafter called a totalreflection signal 14S. The total reflection signal 14S from the adder126 is sent to a signal processing circuit 143. The signal processingcircuit 143, which performs processing for stable read of informationrecorded on the optical disc 100, sends the total reflection signal 14Sto an optical disc controller (ODC) 144. The ODC 144 performs processingsuch as error correction based on the read information, and sends datato a computer and the like connected with the optical disc apparatus.

<Control of Recording>

The optical disc 100 has spiral tracks formed by concave and convexportions when the disc is for recording, and information is to berecorded along the tracks. During recording, an information signal to berecorded must be in synchronization with the rotational speed of theoptical disc 100. To synchronize the information signal to be recordedwith the rotational speed of the optical disc 100, the spiral tracksformed by concave and convex portions are somewhat modulated. This iscalled wobbling, and a wobble signal 15S is output from the subtracter125, from which the tracking error signal 12S is also output.

The wobble signal 15S has an amplitude about one-tenth to one-twentiethof that of the tracking error signal 12S, and for this reason, aband-pass filter (BPF) 141 for wobbling is provided to extract thewobble signal 15S at a good S/N ratio. The BPF 141 permits passing of awobble signal frequency (for example, 141 KHz for DVD-R discs), and thewobble signal extracted at a good S/N ratio is then subjected to phasecomparison with a synchronizing signal for recording by a PLL circuit142 for wobbling. The PLL circuit 142 for wobbling outputs asynchronizing signal 16S synchronized in phase with the wobble signal15S to the ODC 144.

The PLL circuit 142 for wobbling also has a function of holding apreceding phase comparison control loop in response to the externaldropout detection signal 11S.

The apparatus performs recording operation as follows. The CPU 140 sendsa recording instruction 17S to the ODC 144 to instruct start of arecording sequence, and recording is started from an assigned targetaddress. As the recording operation, the ODC 144 outputs a recordinggate signal WTGT, and outputs recording data WTDT based on thesynchronizing signal 16S input into the ODC 144. The recording gatesignal WTGT switches the mode of the LPC circuit 139 to a recording modevia the CPU 140, and the LPC circuit 139 controls the recording poweraccording to the recording data WTDT to enable recording of informationon the optical disc 100.

<Dropout Detection in this Embodiment>

FIG. 2 illustrates an internal configuration of the dropout circuit 10Ashown in FIG. 1. FIGS. 3A to 3I illustrate the operation of the dropoutdetection circuit 10A of FIG. 2.

The dropout detection circuit 10A of FIG. 2 includes: a low-speedenvelope detection circuit 146 having a time constant (second timeconstant) larger than a time constant (first time constant) of ahigh-speed envelope detection circuit 147 to be described below; thehigh-speed envelope detection circuit 147 having the time constant(first time constant) smaller than the time constant (second timeconstant) of the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146; adifferential circuit (differential means) 150; a comparator (comparatormeans) 149; a D/A converter 151 for determining the binary level for thecomparator 149; an edge detection circuit 152 for detecting rising andfalling edges of the recording gate signal WTGT; and a monostablemultivibrator 153 for generating a pulse signal pulsing for apredetermined time period in synchronization with the rising and fallingedges.

First, the total reflection signal 14S is input into the low-speedenvelope detection circuit (second envelope detection means) 146 and thehigh-speed envelope detection circuit (first envelope detection means)147. The low-speed and high-speed envelope detection circuits 146 and147 are general detection circuits as shown in FIG. 2, each having acurrent source charging and a current source discharging according tothe input signal. The current values of the charging and dischargingcurrent sources can be changed according to the recording gate signalWTGT. For example, assuming that the “H” level of the recording gatesignal WTGT indicates the recording state and the “L” level indicatesthe reproduction state as shown in FIG. 3A, the current values of thecurrent sources are set smaller when the recording gate signal WTGT is“H” than when it is “L”.

The reason is as follows. As shown in FIG. 3B, during recording, thetotal reflection signal 14S output from the adder 126 is modulated fromthe maximum power (for example, 15 mw) to the minimum power (forexample, 0.5 mw) of the recording according to the recording data WTDT.If dropout detection is performed in this case, a false dropoutdetection signal will be detected during recording. To avoid thisproblem, the current values of the current sources are decreased tothereby increase the detection time constant, and thus the totalreflection signal is averaged as shown in FIG. 3D. Increase of thedetection time constant may be realized by changing the capacitancevalues of capacitors C10 and C11 for charge/discharge while keepingconstant the current values, in place of decreasing the current values.

As described above, a high-speed envelope detection output 21Sb as shownin FIG. 3D is obtained by setting the time constant of the high-speedenvelope detection circuit 147 to be larger during recording than duringreproduction. In this case, therefore, if dropout detection isperformed, the problem of detecting a false dropout detection signal 11Sduring recording is prevented.

However, as shown in FIG. 3B, a large level difference is generatedbetween the level of the total reflection signal 14S during reproductionand the average level of the total reflection signal 14S duringrecording at the switching points from recording to reproduction andfrom reproduction to recording. If dropout detection is performed inthis state, a false dropout detection signal 11S will be detected atthese switching points. To avoid generation of a false dropout detectionsignal 11S, the current sources are controlled so that the detectiontime constants of the low-speed and high-speed envelope detectioncircuits 146 and 147 become identical to each other in synchronizationwith the switching points of the recording gate signal WTGT.

The edge detection circuit 152 detects the switching points of therecording gate signal WTGT by detecting edges of the recording gatesignal WTGT. In synchronization with the detected edges, the monostablemultivibrator 153 outputs a pulse signal 23S pulsing for a predeterminedtime period as shown in FIG. 3F for control of the current sources.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 3G, at the switching points from recordingto reproduction and from reproduction to recording, the time constantsbecomes identical to each other, and thus the signal level of a signal21Sc from the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147 and the signallevel of a signal 22Sb from the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146become identical to each other. The differential circuit 150 outputs asignal 24S indicating the difference between the signal 22Sb from thelow-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and the signal 21Sc from thehigh-speed envelope detection circuit 147. As shown in FIG. 3H, a levelchange hardly occurs at and around the points at which the timeconstants are made identical to each other. Therefore, generation of afalse dropout detection signal 11S is prevented at the switching pointsfrom recording to reproduction and from reproduction to recording.

In general, by generation of a dropout, the level of the totalreflection signal 14S is lowered to the dark side. The signal 21Sa fromthe high-speed envelope detection circuit 147 substantially follows theenvelope including a level reduction by a dropout as shown in FIG. 3C.On the contrary, the signal 22Sa from the low-speed envelope detectioncircuit 146, having a time constant larger than that of the high-speedenvelope detection circuit 147, fails to follow the envelope including alevel reduction due to a dropout, and thus hardly changes in levelthroughout the dropout period, as shown in FIG. 3E. Therefore, as in theconventional dropout detection, the differential circuit 150 calculatesthe difference between the signal 22Sb from the low-speed envelopedetection circuit 146 and the signal 21Sc from the high-speed envelopedetection circuit 147, and outputs the signal 24S of which the levellargely changes at the dropout point during reproduction. Thus, thenext-stage comparator 149 outputs the dropout detection signal 11S thatbecomes “H” during the dropout period as shown in FIG. 3I. The binarylevel used by the comparator 149 as the detection level for the dropoutdetection signal 11S, with respect to the total reflection light amount,may be freely determined by setting an arbitrary value in the D/Aconverter 151.

As described above, in the dropout detection circuit 10A of thisembodiment, the value of the detection time constant used in thehigh-speed envelope detection circuit 147 is made larger in therecording state than in the reproduction state. By this setting, dropoutdetection is possible without influence of a modulation signal duringrecording. In addition, at the switching points from recording toreproduction and from reproduction to recording, the values of thedetection time constants of the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146and the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147 are made identical toeach other. By this setting, stable dropout detection with highreliability is possible without detection of a false dropout detectionsignal 11S at the switching points from recording to reproduction andfrom reproduction to recording.

Embodiment 2

An optical disc apparatus of Embodiment 2 of the present inventionincludes a dropout detection circuit 10A shown in FIG. 4 in place of thedropout detection circuit 10A shown in FIG. 2. The other components ofthe optical disc apparatus of this embodiment are the same as thoseshown in FIG. 1. FIGS. 5A to 5G illustrate the operation of the dropoutdetection circuit 10A of FIG. 4.

The dropout detection circuit 10A of FIG. 4 includes a variable gainamplifier (variable gain means) 154 in addition to the configurationshown in FIG. 2.

The total reflection signal 14S from the adder 126 is input into thevariable gain amplifier 154. The variable gain amplifier 154 changes again according to the recording gate signal WTGT. The reason forchanging the gain is as follows. As described in Embodiment 1, duringrecording, the total reflection signal 14S is modulated from the maximumpower (for example, 15 mw) to the minimum power (for example, 0.5 mw) ofthe recording according to the recording data WTDT as shown in FIG. 5B.This causes a large level difference between the level of the totalreflection signal 14S during reproduction and the average level of thetotal reflection signal 14S during recording. The variable gainamplifier 154 is provided to make these levels roughly identical to eachother and thereby prevent generation of a false dropout detection signal11S.

As shown in FIG. 5C, the variable gain amplifier 154, which has receivedthe total reflection signal 14S, outputs a signal 41S in which thelevels during recording and during reproduction are made roughly closeto each other. The signal 41S from the variable gain amplifier 154 isinput into the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and thehigh-speed envelope detection circuit 147, and the detection timeconstant is changed according to the recording gate signal WTGT as inEmbodiment 1. Also as in Embodiment 1, the detection time constants aremade identical to each other at the switching points from recording toreproduction and from reproduction to recording. A signal 21Sc from thehigh-speed envelope detection circuit 147 shown in FIG. 5D is obtainedby increasing the time constant during recording and making the timeconstant identical to that of the low-speed envelope detection circuit146 in synchronization with the switching from reproduction to recordingor from recording to reproduction. A signal 22Sb from the low-speedenvelope detection circuit 146 shown in FIG. 5E is obtained by makingthe time constant identical to that of the high-speed envelope detectioncircuit 147 in synchronization with the switching from reproduction torecording or from recording to reproduction. If dropout detection isperformed during this period at which the time constants are madeidentical to each other, detection of a false dropout detection signal11S is prevented as in Embodiment 1.

However, the signal 24S from the differential circuit 150 may have alevel change as shown in FIG. 5F depending on the detection timeconstant of the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147 because theenvelope during recording is influenced by the frequency distribution ofthe recording data WTDT. This level change may exceed the binary levelused by the comparator 149 during reproduction for detection as thedropout detection signal 11S. In such a case, a false dropout detectionsignal 11S will be generated during recording. To prevent generation ofa false dropout detection signal 11S, the D/A converter 151 fordetermining the binary level for the comparator 149 is provided with arecording DAC 151 a and a reproduction DAC 151 b as shown in FIG. 4.With this configuration, the binary level for the comparator 149 can beswitched between the level during recording and that during reproductionas shown in FIG. 5F. This prevents generation of a false dropoutdetection signal 11S during recording and thus enables stable detectionof the true dropout detection signal 11S, as shown in FIG. 5G.

As described above, in the dropout detection circuit 10A of thisembodiment, the average level of the total reflection signal 14S duringrecording and the level of the total reflection signal 14S duringreproduction are made roughly identical to each other by the variablegain amplifier 154. In addition, the detection time constants of thelow-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and the high-speed envelopedetection circuit 147 during recording are changed from those duringreproduction. By this setting, the dropout detection signal 11S can bedetected without influence of a modulation signal during recording.Moreover, to enable independent dropout detection settings duringrecording and during reproduction, the binary level is switched betweenthe level during recording and that during reproduction. This makes itpossible to set a detection level according to the state of recording orreproduction and thus prevent detection of a false dropout detectionsignal 11S. Furthermore, the detection time constants of the low-speedenvelope detection circuit 146 and the high-speed envelope detectioncircuit 147 are made identical to each other at the switching pointsfrom recording to reproduction and from reproduction to recording. Bythis setting, stable dropout detection with high reliability is possiblewithout detection of a false dropout detection signal 11S even at theseswitching points.

Embodiment 3

An optical disc apparatus of Embodiment 3 of the present inventionincludes a dropout detection circuit 10A shown in FIG. 6 in place of thedropout detection circuit 10A shown in FIG. 2. The other components ofthe optical disc apparatus of this embodiment are the same as thoseshown in FIG. 1. FIGS. 7A to 7I illustrate the operation of the dropoutdetection circuit 10A of FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, the total reflection signal 14S is input into thevariable gain amplifier 154. The variable gain amplifier 154 changes again according to the recording gate signal WTGT. By this gain change,the average level of the total reflection signal 14S during recordingand the level of the total reflection signal 14S during reproduction aremade roughly identical to each other. Therefore, the signal 41S outputfrom the variable gain amplifier 154 is a total reflection signal inwhich the levels during recording and during reproduction are roughlythe same. The signal 41S is input into the low-speed envelope detectioncircuit 146 and the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147.

Due to variation in setting of the variable gain amplifier 154 and thelike, however, the levels of the signal 41S output from the variablegain amplifier 154 during recording and during reproduction are notcompletely the same. Therefore, there may possibly arise a case that theoutput level from the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and theoutput level from the high-speed envelop detection circuit 147 arereversed during recording and during reproduction. As shown in FIG. 7D,for example, if only a small level difference occurs, the output levelof a signal 22Sd from the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146 andthe output level of a signal 21Sd from the high-speed envelope detectioncircuit 147 are reversed. In this case, the differential circuit 150outputs the signal 24S having a waveform as shown in FIG. 7E, and as aresult, the comparator 149 may output a false dropout detection signal11S as shown in FIG. 7F.

To prevent generation of a false dropout detection signal 11S asdescribed above, the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and thehigh-speed envelope detection circuit 147 are provided with switchesSW10 and SW11 for forced discharge, respectively, as shown in FIG. 6.With the switches SW10 and SW11, charges stored in the capacitors C10and C11 for charge/discharge are forcefully discharged for predeterminedtime periods shown in FIG. 7G at the switching points from recording toreproduction and from reproduction to recording. The predetermined timeperiod during which the switches SW10 and SW11 for forced discharge areoperated is determined by the pulse signal generated by the monostablemultivibrator 153 in synchronization with the edges of the recordinggate signal WTGT.

If no forced discharge with the switches SW10 and SW11 is performed, afalse dropout detection signal 11S will be generated at the time pointwhen the total reflection signal 14S shifts from the high level to thelow level as shown in FIG. 7F. By performing forced discharge with theswitches SW10 and SW11, a signal 22Se from the low-speed envelopedetection circuit 146 and a signal 21Se from the high-speed envelopedetection circuit 147 form a waveform as shown in FIG. 7G, andtherefore, the signal 24S from the differential circuit 150 has awaveform as shown in FIG. 7H. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7I,generation of a false dropout detection signal 11S as the output of thecomparator 149 is prevented even at the switching points of the totalreflection signal 14S from recording to reproduction and fromreproduction to recording.

In the case described above, just simply operating the switches SW10 andSW11 will cause a problem. For example, if a time lag arises between theoperations of the switches SW10 and SW11 for forced discharge of thelow-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and the high-speed envelopedetection circuit 147, this may cause generation of a false dropoutdetection signal 11S. To avoid this, the operations of the switches SW10and SW11 must be started simultaneously. In addition, in considerationof the fact that dropout detection is realized by use of the differencein envelope between the low-speed and high-speed sides, the forceddischarge must be started earlier in the low-speed envelope detectioncircuit 146 than in the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147.

Although this embodiment was implemented with the analog circuits, itmay also be implemented with digital processing circuits. For example,the operation of the forced discharge may be performed by decrementingan A/D converted digital value every predetermined clock, and the forceddischarge with a switch may be realized by resetting the digital valueto an initial value.

In this embodiment, the switches SW10 and SW11 were placed inside thelow-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and the high-speed envelopedetection circuit 147. Alternatively, the same effect of this embodimentis also obtained by placing the switches SW10 and SW11 outside thelow-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and the high-speed envelopedetection circuit 147.

As described above, in the dropout detection circuit 10A of thisembodiment, the average level of the total reflection signal 14S duringrecording and the level of the total reflection signal 14S duringreproduction are made roughly identical to each other by the variablegain amplifier 154. By this setting, dropout detection can be performedwithout influence of a modulation signal during recording. Also, chargesstored in the capacitors for charge/discharge of the low-speed envelopedetection circuit 146 and the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147are forcefully discharged at the switching points from recording toreproduction and from reproduction to recording. By this forceddischarge, stable dropout detection with high reliability is possiblewithout detection of a false dropout detection signal 11S even at theswitching points from recording to reproduction and from reproduction torecording.

Embodiment 4

An optical disc apparatus of Embodiment 4 of the present inventionincludes a dropout detection circuit 10A shown in FIG. 8 in place of thedropout detection circuit 10A shown in FIG. 2. The other components ofthe optical disc apparatus of this embodiment are the same as thoseshown in FIG. 1. FIGS. 9A to 9J illustrate the operation of the dropoutdetection circuit 10A of FIG. 8.

As shown in FIG. 8, there is provided a circuit for switching the pathof the total reflection signal 14S according to the recording gatesignal WTGT, at a stage preceding the variable gain amplifier 154 shownin FIG. 6. This circuit allows the total reflection signal 14S to passthrough a low-pass filter (LPF) 155 during recording and to be directlyinput into the variable gain amplifier 154 during reproduction. Thetotal reflection signal 14S is guided to pass through the LPF 155 duringrecording because the level of the total reflection signal 14S issubjected to recording modulation with the recording data WTDT as shownin FIG. 9B. By the passing through the LPF 155 during recording, thelevel of a signal 81S input into the variable gain amplifier 154 isaveraged as shown in FIG. 9C. As the bandwidth for the LPF 155, there isset a frequency with which the total reflection signal 14S subjected torecording modulation with the recording data WTDT can be averagedadequately and yet good response can be exhibited in dropout detection.In this embodiment, a frequency of about 100 KHz is presumed. As anothermethod for averaging the total reflection signal 14S adequately duringrecording, the pass band of the LPF 155 may be switched between onesused during recording and during reproduction.

The signal 81S that has passed through the LPF 155 during recording isinput into the variable gain amplifier 154. In the variable gainamplifier 154, the gain is changed according to the recording gatesignal WTGT, so that the average level of the total reflection signal14S during recording and the level of the total reflection signal 14Sduring reproduction are made roughly identical to each other as shown inFIG. 9D. The signal 41S output from the variable gain amplifier 154 isinput into the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and thehigh-speed envelope detection circuit 147.

As in Embodiment 3 described above, the average level of the totalreflection signal 14S during recording and the level of the totalreflection signal 14S during reproduction are not completely identicalto each other due to variation in setting of the variable gain amplifier154 and the like. For this reason, just a small level difference maylead to generation of a false dropout detection signal 11S. To preventdetection of a false dropout detection signal 11S, forced discharge isperformed for predetermined time periods at the switching points fromrecording to reproduction and from reproduction to recording. In thisembodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, transistors TR10 and TR11 are providedto allow forced discharge of charges stored in the capacitors C10 andC11 for charge/discharge.

The detection time constants of the low-speed envelope detection circuit146 and the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147 are determineddepending on the capacitance values of the capacitors C10 and C11 forcharge/discharge and the values of the discharge currents. In general,to secure a difference in time constant, the detection time constantsare often determined depending on the capacitance values of thecapacitors C10 and C11 for charge/discharge, while the same dischargecurrent value is set for the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146and the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147. Therefore, a largecapacitance value is set for the capacitor C10 of the low-speed sidewhile a small capacitance value is set for the capacitor C11 of thehigh-speed side.

In the forced discharge with the transistors TR10 and TR11, the forceddischarge characteristic differs between the low-speed and high-speedenvelope detection circuits as shown in FIG. 9G due to the difference incapacitance value between the capacitors on the low-speed side and thehigh-speed side as described above. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9H,the signal 24S output from the differential circuit 150 has levelchanges in the direction inviting dropout detection. The forceddischarge is performed in response to a pulse (first pulse signal)generated during time t1 (first time) determined by the monostablemultivibrator (first pulse generation means) 153 in synchronization withthe rising or falling edge of the recording gate signal WTGT, as shownin FIG. 9E. The time t1 is a time period required for the charges storedin the capacitor C10 of the low-speed envelope detection circuit 146 andthe capacitor C11 of the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147 to bemade identical to each other. Therefore, the time t1 is predominantlydetermined based on the forced discharge time constant of the low-speedenvelope detection circuit in which the capacitor for charge/dischargehas a capacitance value larger than that of the high-speed envelopdetection circuit.

The forced discharge is performed for the predetermined time t1determined by the monostable multivibrator 153. During the forceddischarge, level changes arise in the direction inviting dropoutdetection as described above, and therefore a false dropout detectionsignal 11S may be generated as shown in FIG. 9I. To overcome thisproblem, a second monostable multivibrator (second pulse generationmeans) 157 is provided as shown in FIG. 8 for generating a pulse for alonger time period than the time t1 determined by the monostablemultivibrator 153. The second monostable multivibrator 157 generates apulse (second pulse signal) for time t2 (second time) as shown in FIG.9F. In response to the pulse output from the second monostablemultivibrator 157, a gate circuit 156 performs gate processing of thesignal 11S output from the comparator 149. Specifically, the gatecircuit 156 outputs an “L” level signal irrespective of the signal 11Sfrom the comparator 149 as long as a signal 82S output from the secondmonostable multivibrator 157 is in the “H” level. In this way, by theforced discharge of the different capacitances in the low-speed andhigh-speed envelope detection circuits 146 and 147 and also by the gateprocessing described above, a signal 83S output from the gate circuit156 is free from generation of a false dropout detection signal 11S thatis output from the comparator 149, as shown in FIG. 9J.

The time t2 for the gate processing by the gate circuit 156 may beprepared by two stages by the monostable multivibrator 153 and thesecond monostable multivibrator 157.

In this embodiment, also, the operation of the forced discharge may beimplemented with digital processing circuits. For example, the operationof the forced discharge may be performed by decrementing an A/Dconverted digital value every predetermined clock.

In this embodiment, the transistors TR10 and TR11 were placed inside thelow-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and the high-speed envelopedetection circuit 147.

Alternatively, the same effect of this embodiment is also obtained byplacing the transistors TR10 and TR11 outside the low-speed envelopedetection circuit 146 and the high-speed envelope detection circuit 147.

As described above, in the dropout detection circuit 10A of thisembodiment, the total reflection signal 14S passes through the LPF 155during recording, and the average level of the total reflection signal14S during recording and the level of the total reflection signal 14Sduring reproduction are made roughly identical to each other. Inaddition, charges stored in the capacitors for charge/discharge of thelow-speed envelope detection circuit 146 and the high-speed envelopedetection circuit 147 are forcefully discharged at the switching pointsfrom recording to reproduction and from reproduction to recording, andgeneration of a false dropout detection signal 11S is blocked by thegate circuit 156. This enables prevention of detection of a falsedropout detection signal 11S at the switching points from recording toreproduction and from reproduction to recording without influence of amodulation signal during recording. As a result, stable dropoutdetection with high reliability is possible irrespective of duringrecording or during reproduction

While the present invention has been described in a preferredembodiment, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that thedisclosed invention may be modified in numerous ways and may assume manyembodiments other than that specifically set out and described above.Accordingly, it is intended by the appended claims to cover allmodifications of the invention which fall within the true spirit andscope of the invention.

1-7. (canceled)
 8. A dropout detection circuit comprising: variable gainmeans for changing the amplitude of a reflection signal of a light beamconverged on an optical disc for irradiation of the optical disc to apredetermined amplitude at a predetermined gain different between duringreproduction and during recording; first envelope detection means fordetecting an envelope of the reflection signal changed to have thepredetermined amplitude with a first time constant; second envelopedetection means for detecting an envelope of the reflection signalchanged to have the predetermined amplitude with a second time constantlarger than the first time constant; differential means for generating adifference signal indicating a difference between the envelope outputfrom the first envelope detection means and the envelope output from thesecond envelope detection means; and comparator means for converting thedifference signal generated by the differential means to a binary valueaccording to a predetermined binary criterion, wherein the first andsecond envelope detection means initialize the detected envelope valuesat the time of switching from reproduction to recording or fromrecording to reproduction.
 9. The dropout detection circuit of claim 8,wherein the initialization by the first and second envelope detectionmeans is started simultaneously.
 10. The dropout detection circuit ofclaim 8, wherein the time required for the initialization by the secondenvelope detection means is shorter than the time required for theinitialization by the first envelope detection means.
 11. A dropoutdetection circuit comprising: a low-pass filter for changing a frequencybandwidth of a reflection signal of a light beam converged on an opticaldisc for irradiation of the optical disc with a predetermined blockingfrequency different between during reproduction and during recording;variable gain means for changing the amplitude of the reflection signalhaving the frequency bandwidth determined by the low-pass filter to apredetermined amplitude at a predetermined gain different between duringreproduction and during recording; first pulse generation means forgenerating a first pulse signal for a first time period at the time ofswitching from reproduction to recording or from recording toreproduction; second pulse generation means for generating a secondpulse signal for a second time period at the time of switching; firstenvelope detection means for detecting an envelope of the reflectionsignal having the predetermined amplitude with a first time constant;second envelope detection means for detecting an envelope of thereflection signal having the predetermined amplitude with a second timeconstant larger than the first time constant; differential means forgenerating a difference signal indicating a difference between theenvelope output from the first envelope detection means and the envelopeoutput from the second envelope detection means; comparator means forconverting the difference signal generated by the differential means toa binary value according to a predetermined binary criterion; and a gatecircuit for blocking an output from the comparator means, wherein thefirst and second envelope detection means forcefully discharge therespectively detected envelope values for the first time period inresponse to the first pulse signal, and the gate circuit blocks theoutput from the comparator means for the second time period in responseto the second pulse signal.
 12. The dropout detection circuit of claim11, wherein the second time period is longer than the first time period.13. (canceled)
 14. An optical disc apparatus comprising the dropoutdetection circuit of claim
 8. 15. An optical disc apparatus comprisingthe dropout detection circuit of claim 11.